Sky is falling in Kern County

An ultra-light aircraft went down near Bear Mountain Blvd., in Bakersfield around noon on Saturday and a four-seater Piper Cherokee went down near the Tehachapi Airport about four hours later. Passengers and pilots suffered some minor injuries and the ultra-light knocked down some power lines, but no serious injuries or property damage were reported.

An ultra-light aircraft went down near Bear Mountain Blvd., in Bakersfield around noon on Saturday and a four-seater Piper Cherokee went down near the Tehachapi Airport about four hours later. Passengers and pilots suffered some minor injuries and the ultra-light knocked down some power lines, but no serious injuries or property damage were reported.

According to the Kern County Fire Department, “An ultra-light type aircraft was flying with a pilot and one passenger inside. The aircraft hit some power lines, causing the aircraft to go down in a corn field south of Bakersfield.

“The aircraft hit some high-voltage power lines, which knocked over one power pole and caused damage to four additional poles. On arrival, fire crews found energized power lines on the aircraft and the aircraft was on fire. Crews carefully extinguished the fire on the aircraft that had started in the approximately 10-gallon fuel tank that was only about half full.

“Both the pilot and passenger were able to walk away from the accident. Power had been disrupted to approximately 400 PG&E customers. The cause of the accident is under investigation.”

The accident happened at around 12:15 p.m., on Saturday. One of the occupants complained of shoulder pain.

The other plane crash of the day was completely unrelated to the first crash.

The second crash occurred around 4:45 p.m., on Saturday at the 17000 block of Dugan Drive in Tehachapi, which is a little over a mile from the Tehachapi Mountain Valley Airport. Kern County Fire stated in a press release that two of the three occupants of the aircraft were injured in the accident. One had minor with cuts and lacerations while the other escaped with a possible fracture, cuts, and lacerations.

“A Piper Cherokee four-seater aircraft was in the area about 1 ½ miles southwest of the Tehachapi Mountain Valley Airport when the aircraft went down into a residential backyard for unknown reasons,” according to a press release from the Kern County Fire Department. “Fire crews arrived on scene to find the three men with minor to moderate injuries.

“Two of the men refused treatment and one was transported by ambulance to a local hospital. There was no fire and no additional injuries were reported.”